Listen

I said, “Mourn for me; I’m ruined! I’m a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips. Yet I’ve seen the king, the Lord of heavenly forces!”

Then one of the winged creatures flew to me, holding a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt has departed, and your sin is removed.”

Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?”

I said, “I’m here; send me.”

Isaiah 6:5-8

Think

It’s been my experience that it is often dangerous to say “yes” to a task before knowing what you have said “yes” to. Two weeks after beginning my new place of ministry, I was asked if I would serve as part of the transitional leadership team. I voluntarily said, “Yes.” While this new responsibility comes with a degree of status and leadership, it also comes with the responsibility of speaking “truth to power.”

In this part of Isaiah 6, Isaiah openly admits his shortcomings and faults, yet he is not called out by name. You see, Isaiah is called to proclaim a word of both judgment and promise. The call to vocational ministry and the call to following Christ involve the act of volunteering to persevere and endure, even when current events and culture look dark and bleak. The divine one longs for those willing to speak God’s word to the world. The placing of the coal on Isaiah’s lips allows Isaiah the freedom to hear the divine one’s word and serve God’s people.

Tom Baynham

Question to Ponder:

In what ways has God “touched your lips” as God touched Isaiah?

Pray

God of Isaiah, touch me and instill in me the freedom to proclaim your word and serve your creation, with a balanced spirit of judgment and promise. Amen.

Go

“To love the Lord our God is the heartbeat of our mission.
The spring from which our service overflows.
Across the street or around the world, the mission’s still the same.
Proclaim and live the Truth in Jesus’ name.”

Jon Mohr and John Randall Dennis, “The Mission”